Wednesday, 1st July 2009 – Sprinfield, MO, to Lake of the Ozarks, MO. About 120 miles.

Our first mission for the day was to drive to Bass Pro – the biggest outdoors hobby shop I’ve ever ever seen – to try and get a reel for Dad for his fly fishing. They are a lot cheaper to buy direct from the US as there’s less tax, so in we went. It was like Bunnings for the outdoor adventurers. Dad would have spent all day (and maybe all night) there if he could! They didn’t have what we wanted on-site but there was one at the warehouse so after picking that up, we set off for The Lake of the Ozarks.

After another beautiful, scenic drive, and getting just a little bit lost, we arrived at Kimberley and BJ’s Bar, Big Dick’s;

Yes, that’s the name of the Bar. It’s at the half-way point of the Lake of the Ozarks and it was established by a truck driver named Dick who was, well, BIG! BJ’s family have been running the bar for about 10 years. There are no words to express the feelings we had when we turned that little corner on that secluded road to find Kimberley and BJ running a VERY cool bar, right on the lake, and living 2 doors down. We were to spend 6 amazing, fun-filled, relaxing, fabulous, 6-of-the-best-days-of-our-lives here, and we couldn’t wait to get the relaxing started. We pulled up some chairs at the outside bar, ordered a pain in the ass and a couple of burgers, and so began our week on “the lake”.

The water was within stone’s throw. Literally. There are so many more photos to come – we didn’t get too many the first day as we knew we’d be there a while. But here’s an idea of what we were looking at, just across the road:

And a view of the bar from the lake!

We didn’t do a whole lot that day – just lots of catching up and drinking and eating and more catching up. We went out for dinner around 9pm to Paradise Bar and Restaurant – another lakeside bar. Everyone knows everyone on the lake, especially if you run a bar, so we were treated to a great feast of crab cakes, fried clams and salmon. Oh, and cocktails. Lots of cocktails! Luckily for us, BJ was driving so we could just chill-out and relax. It was an awesome start to our week on the lake.